As the communist regime confronts demands for change, ethnic Greeks flee to their motherland -- and a less than rousing welcome

Snowcapped in winter and precipitous in many places, the Pindus Mountains, which straddle Greece and Albania, are all but impassable. That has not stopped thousands of desperate Albanians from crossing into Greece since the last week of 1990. In early December, four fleeing Albanians were shot dead ( near the frontier by soldiers of the Stalinist regime in Tirana. Last week, by contrast, refugees walked into Greece with little to deter them except the cold and the mountains. Instead of opening fire, border guards merely shot curses at the fugitives. By week's end about 5,000 refugees streamed into the northwestern Greek...